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18-letter words containing n, e, r, v

  • overprotectiveness — unduly protective.
  • overrepresentation — to give too much representation to; represent in numbers that are disproportionately high.
  • overspecialization — excessive specialization, as in a field of study.
  • overtime work(ing) — work at a regular job done in addition to regular working hours
  • parallel evolution — the independent development of closely corresponding adaptive features in two or more groups of organisms that occupy different but equivalent habitats, as marsupial mammals in Australia and placental mammals on other continents.
  • partial evaluation — (compiler, algorithm)   (Or "specialisation") An optimisation technique where the compiler evaluates some subexpressions at compile-time. For example, Partial evaluation might change the termination properties of the program if, for example, the expression (x * 0) was reduced to 0 it would terminate even if x (and thus x * 0) did not. It may be necessary to reorder an expression to partially evaluate it, e.g. f x y = (x + y) + 1 g z = f 3 z If we rewrite f: f x y = (x + 1) + y then the expression x+1 becomes a constant for the function g and we can say g z = f 3 z = (3 + 1) + z = 4 + z Partial evaluation of built-in functions applied to constant arguments is known as constant folding. See also full laziness.
  • partial-vegetarian — a person who eats mostly plant foods, dairy products, and eggs, and occasionally chicken, fish, and red meat.
  • passive resistance — opposition to a government or to specific governmental laws by the use of noncooperation and other nonviolent methods, as economic boycotts and protest marches.
  • periodic inventory — Periodic inventory is a method of valuing inventory, usually at the end of accounting periods, by physically counting all merchandise held in stock at that time.
  • physical inventory — To carry out a physical inventory is to count all the stock on hand.
  • pneumatic conveyor — a tube through which powdered or granular material, such as cement, grain, etc is transported by a flow of air
  • polyvinyl chloride — a white, water-insoluble, thermoplastic resin, derived by the polymerization of vinyl chloride: used chiefly for thin coatings, insulation, and pipings.
  • possessive pronoun — See at possessive (def 4a).
  • post-revolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
  • postviral syndrome — debilitating condition occurring as a sequel to viral illness
  • prepositional verb — a combination of verb and preposition, often with idiomatic meaning, differing from other phrasal verbs in that an object must always follow the preposition, as take after in The children take after their mother.
  • preservation order — In Britain, a preservation order is an official order that makes it illegal for anyone to alter or destroy something such as an old building or an area of countryside.
  • priority inversion — (parallel)   The state of a concurrent system where a high priority task is waiting for a low priority task which is waiting for a medium priority task. The system may become unstable and crash under these circumstances. In an operating system that uses multiple tasks, each task (or context) may be given a priority. These priorities help the scheduler decide which task to run next. Consider tasks, L, M, and H, with priorities Low, Medium, and High. M is running and H is blocked waiting for some resource that is held by L. So long as any task with a priority higher than L is runable, it will prevent task L, and thus task H, from running. Priority inversion is generally considered either as a high-level design failure or an implementation issue to be taken into account depending on who is talking. Most operating systems have methods in place to prevent or take inversion into account. Priority inheritance is one method. The most public instance of priority inversion is the repeated 'fail-safe' rebooting of the Mars Pathfinder. base station ('Sagan Memorial Station').
  • private enterprise — free enterprise (def 1).
  • progressive coding — (graphics, file format, algorithm)   (Or "interlacing") An aspect of a graphics storage format or transmission algorithm that treats bitmap image data non-sequentially in such a way that later data adds progressively greater resolution to an already full-size image. This contrasts with sequential coding. Progressive coding is useful when an image is being sent across a slow communications channel, such as the Internet, as the low-resolution image may be sufficient to allow the user to decide not to wait for the rest of the file to be received. In an interlaced GIF89 image, the pixels in a row are stored sequentially but the rows are stored in interlaced order, e.g. 0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 6, 8, 10, 14, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15. Each vertical scan adds rows in the middle of the gaps left by the previous one. Interlacing is also supported by other formats. JPEG supports a functionally similar concept known as Progressive JPEG. [How does the algorithm differ?] See also progressive/sequential coding.
  • progressive dinner — a dinner party in which each successive course is prepared and eaten at the residence of a different participant.
  • protocol converter — (networking)   A device or program to translate between different protocols which serve similar functions (e.g. TCP and TP4). Some call this a "gateway", though others use that term for other kinds of internetworking device.
  • provincetown print — a print made from a woodblock incised with grooves that serve to separate the colors being used and to leave white lines highlighting the design.
  • provision merchant — a person or company in the business of retailing food and other provisions
  • psychogalvanometer — a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.
  • quantity surveying — the action or profession of a person who estimates the cost of the materials and labour necessary for a construction job
  • queen's university — A Canadian University. Source of GVL, NIAL, Pasqual, Q'NIAL and TXL.
  • radioactive dating — any method of determining the age of earth materials or objects of organic origin based on measurement of either short-lived radioactive elements or the amount of a long-lived radioactive element plus its decay product.
  • raffinate recovery — Raffinate recovery is the use of a substance which is left after a process is complete and the desired substances have been removed.
  • rapid eye movement — rapidly shifting, continuous movements of the eyes beneath closed lids during the stage of sleep characterized by dreaming.
  • reactive component — the component in an alternating-current circuit that does not contribute power because it is 90° out of phase with the voltage or current.
  • recovery operation — the process of locating and retrieving bodies, esp following an explosion or natural disaster
  • recursive function — a function defined in terms of the repeated application of a number of simpler functions to their own values, by specifying a base clause and a recursion formula
  • redevelopment area — an urban area in which all or most of the buildings are demolished and rebuilt
  • reduction division — the first division of meiosis in which the number of chromosomes is reduced to half the original number.
  • reinvent the wheel — (jargon)   To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is often a valid criticism. On the other hand, automobiles don't use wooden rollers, and some kinds of wheel have to be reinvented many times before you get them right. On the third hand, people reinventing the wheel do tend to come up with the moral equivalent of a trapezoid with an offset axle.
  • relative frequency — the ratio of the number of times an event occurs to the number of occasions on which it might occur in the same period.
  • relative minor key — a minor key that has the same key signature as a major key, but a different tonic
  • representativeness — a person or thing that represents another or others.
  • research-intensive — focusing financial and other resources on research and development as opposed to capital and labor; noting or pertaining to a high ratio of expenditure on research in relation to the value of net output.
  • reverberation time — the time it takes for a sound made in a room to diminish by 60 decibels.
  • reverse angle shot — Movies. reverse shot.
  • reversionary bonus — a bonus added to the sum payable on death or at the maturity of a with-profits assurance policy
  • revolution counter — a device for counting or recording the number of revolutions made by a rotating shaft, as of a motor or engine.
  • revolutionary wars — American Revolution.
  • ribbon development — housing or commercial buildings built along a stretch of road.
  • room for manoeuvre — If you have room for manoeuvre, you have the opportunity to change your plans if it becomes necessary or desirable.
  • run one's eye over — to glance at hurriedly
  • russian revolution — Also called February Revolution. the uprising in Russia in March, 1917 (February Old Style), in which the Czarist government collapsed and a provisional government was established.
  • seasonal variation — season-related variation
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